One of the things I’m most thankful for is the photo app on my phone. At the touch of a button, thousands of memories are available for me to see. Family trips, days at home, videos of my children right after they were born.
It’s honestly too easy to let the busyness of life keep you “in the moment” and cause you to think that “in the moment” is all that exists. Being full-time missionaries to the University of Missouri, our lives ramp up at the beginning of the school year. If you hadn’t noticed, we haven’t posted to “The Now” in a few weeks because of it.
One strange phenomenon that comes with “in the moment” busyness is we tend to lose ourselves a little. We aren’t thinking about what we’ve been through in life to get where we are, we aren’t thinking of the struggles we’ve had to overcome to get where we’re at, and we aren’t thinking of some of the most joy-filled memories we possess because we’re stuck in the moment.
Psalm 23 says this…
The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
Why is that line significant? In those times, it was common for travelers to find a place to stay for the night at the closest home to them. They would knock, the father/head of the house would answer the door and invite them in. Then the two men, the host and the visitor, would sit around the fire and reminisce about how God had protected them and been there for them. When events like that would happen, they would carve them into their staves so that as they carried it they would never forget what God had done for them. When scripture says “your rod and your staff, they comfort me” it’s because what’s engraved on them is there to remind us of God’s love, protection, power, comfort, and peace.
There is a danger to busyness. For me, the danger is losing awareness of what God carried us through when Blakely died and who He transformed us into through that entire process. Why am I thankful for the photos app on my phone? Because I can go back and look at my daughter. I can watch videos of her laying on the bed while Morgan or I talk to her. I can reminisce over a picture of me brushing her hair and place myself right back in that moment.
It reminds me of how she made me a father and Morgan a mother. It reminds me of the beautiful weeks we had with her. Lastly, it reminds me of how God was with us after she died and how he transformed us. I’m not the same Tyler I was before she died. I’m completely different. I can’t allow the busyness of life to cause me to forget that.
The photos app is the modern-day rod and staff. Through it, I can see how God has been with us, loved us, provided, and allowed us to have these beautiful memories with our babies.
